Education has played a pivotal role in my life and career. Raised in a lower-middle-class home
with parents who had no college education, I was lucky that my parents emphasized the importance of
education and its ability to transform our lives.

Although they made a modest living and we struggled at times, they raised three children who
grew up to earn advanced college degrees. Like most parents, they wanted their children to have the
best opportunities possible to achieve the American Dream, and they knew education was the key to
making that happen.

When I reflect on my own upbringing, I think about the children in Columbus. Do they have the
support and opportunities they need to prosper and make positive contributions to our community?
How can businesses and the community step up to make sure all of our children are prepared to
succeed? I believe it starts with our investment in education.

Many of our city schools in Columbus have a proud heritage, smart and visionary educators, and
students ready to learn. At the same time, the school system has many challenges, from making sure
our youngest children are ready to come to school and succeed, to ensuring all students have
pathways not only to graduation but also to college and careers.

From an employer’s standpoint, we need to make sure students entering the work force have the
strong reasoning and problem-solving skills they will need to be successful in today’s fast-paced,
changing world. The business challenges we face require our employees to be agile, think
creatively, make smart decisions, take advantage of new tools and technologies and use resources in
the most effective and efficient ways.

The Columbus community also needs our students to succeed. We know that students who don’t
graduate from high school and move on to higher education will have enormous difficulty getting
anything other than dead-end jobs that pay too little to support a family. The consequences can be
tragic, not only for those families, but also for our city’s competitiveness in the 21 {+s}{+t}
century economy.

This is why the American Electric Power Foundation is launching Credits Count, a new, $5 million
dual-enrollment program that will help build a school-to-career pathway for more than 650 Columbus
City Schools students over five years and provide critical support services to more than 3,000
middle- and high-school students overall. This initiative will allow students to earn college
credit and/or make progress toward a post-secondary certificate at Columbus State Community College
in a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field.

This program supports a key recommendation of the Columbus Education Commission: that all
students be given pathways to college and a career. We believe it will help address the college
readiness and affordability challenges that many students face, and help ensure that employers will
have a pipeline of highly skilled talent to meet their needs in the future.

I am forever grateful that the value of a high-quality education was instilled in me as a child.
As AEP’s Foundation ramps up its investment in and commitment to education, we hope the Columbus
community will join us by voting yes on Issues 50 and 51 in November. These issues will provide
critical funding for Columbus schools, helping to ensure students have the best teachers,
technology and learning environments possible. The students of Columbus, who represent the future
of our community and our economy, need our support now more than ever.